Your Number One!

Religion: Let the Spirit of God Work for You

By Bishop John Rocque
Zechariah 4: 6 – 12 “…Not by MIGHT nor by POWER, but by MY SPIRIT, says the LORD of hosts. 7. WHAT are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.”
There are usually two reactions to problems. Either you give up, or stand and fight. Many believers today are suspended in a state of giving up. You have tried to do business but the field is littered with badness. Evil people are in control of the government. Getting a licence requires that you pay them bribes. Getting a bank loan requires you to know the bank manager or make up to someone inside the system. You want to write examinations, but the powers that be are telling you that you will never pass unless you submit your body to them. You want to lead a simple life, but your relatives are giving you hell and telling you that you will never make it unless you worship ancestors with them. Maybe you are a child; you are born again but your evil parents or guardians won’t let you worship God.
Well, I have good news for you. The word of the Lord is saying you will achieve what you set out to do, or what God directed you to do. The important thing is to understand God’s strategy on how to achieve those goals.
Many times we want to take things into our own hands. We have been done in so often that we want to go out there and physically fight whoever is offending us. That sounds good, but have you ever considered asking God how he wants a specific battle to be fought?
The word says we will win the war by the SPIRIT of God, not by our might or physical strength. Now, that is a profound statement. It takes faith to believe that and to apply this principle. The reason is simple. Your problems appear so huge that you cannot imagine them miraculously disappearing. The reason is you are so close to the problems that they appear insurmountable. Step back a little from the problem. Distance makes a mountain appear smaller. You need to create that space and that comes from shifting your focus to God and not the problem.
Speak to the problem. Begin to say, in faith, ‘what are you o great cancer? Before me you are nothing’ or ‘what are you, o great mountain of poverty? Before me you are made a plain’. Who are you o great mountain of rejection, shame and ridicule? Before me you are reduced to nothing. Who are you o great mountain of deception and cheating me in business? Before me you are a plain.
Once I started a business project which I was sure God had directed me to start. The vision was clear and God opened supernatural doors to prove I was on the right track. As the business became visible and appeared headed towards success, I met a very evil client who refused to pay me for painstaking work done. That payment was to be the bridge to take us to the next level. However, when the money did not come, I was grounded. To make matters worse, the client rudely told me, “I don’t owe you anything”.
The natural reaction was to give up in frustration. I went back to God in prayer and said, “Lord I’m giving up. This is too hard. It’s not for me. Find someone else to finish the work”.
I considered selling the business to salvage the little that I could and move on to something else. Then I came upon this word. Not only does this word say we shall pulverize the mountains or overcome the challenges. It also says we shall complete the work. We shall rejoice when we remember the day of small things and see the victory in our hands.
I want you to be encouraged by this. God is a God of action. He is deploying his SPIRIT to intervene on your behalf and destroy the mountains that are keeping you under the bondage of sin. In fact, he is deploying his ‘seven spirits’ to take care of your situation. That fornication will end, that sickness will disappear, that poverty will go, that feeling of rejection, isolation and loneliness will end, that husband who left you for another woman will come back begging for forgiveness, your kids will make it in school, your business will prosper, the relatives and friends who deserted you because you had no money will come begging from you. It is the spirit of God that will achieve all this, not you, not your cleverness, wealth, education or good works.
We need to go before God and repent for giving up on the things that he has clearly shown us and directed us to do. We need to love our enemies, not because it is easy, convenient or comfortable but because the word directs us to do it. Sometimes, that love will be met with hardness of heart, but believe that the spirit of God is working on the situation because you have fulfilled your end of the bargain. Leave the rest to Him.
Thank you for reading this. May God bless you richly.
Amen.